Questions re bankruptcy of lotowner

if you have not filed a lien or received a court order for payment prior to his bankruptcy filing, you have lost almost all your legal recourse. Others will be along to give you some ideas that might work.

However, there are a couple things you CAN do:
1) File a lien (legally) anyway. First, the guy may be fudging the truth, and he may not have actually filed. It's a common ploy to SAY you are declaring it, but only to get people to back off. Besides, even if he is planning to, your lien could get filed before his declaration, if he's lazy.
2) Once he HAS filed bankruptcy, then the clock starts again. He still owes assessments GOING FORWARD, and you can collect on those (perhaps easier, since he cannot declare bankruptcy again for a number of years). So, keep socking him for all CURRENT payments and future misses, and get a lien filed.

I would not contact his attorney, I would file the liens against his property.

Bankruptcy does not erase liens. Foreclosure may (and often does), but bankruptcy does not.

We have one or two homeowners from whom we receive anywhere from $15 to $20 a month from a bankruptcy lawyer. We will keep receiving the money until the liens are satisfied.

And, yes, people will TELL you anything. We had one woman tell us she was getting a divorce from her husband and they had filed bankruptcy.

We filed the liens - - it turns out they had NOT filed bankruptcy and were trying to buy time in order to sell the property before they would have to pay us.

We got our money at their closing when the property sold.

thanks Michele.. you added a lot of great info.

Bankruptcy doesn't mean someone else suddenly owns those lots, the original owner may still own them. It doesn't mean the HOA is SOL, it simply means you have more work to do to get your money (stand behind other creditors, or with them, wait for a court settlement perhaps, etc.). Michele's advice is good: file your lien, and get in line. Heck, you may be first in line, or third, or last... you can still get up to 100% of your money, no matter what... or a couple pennies on the dollar.

Or, the guy is bluffing, and you file your lien, and force his hand.

Unless things have changed - when filing bankruptcy you must declare all of your debts. Then the court must notify all debtors so they can stake their share in whatever shakes out. If a person fails to notify the court of a debt, then the debt remains outside the proceedings.

Contact your associations attorney (not his) for final advice. You may be out the money, but don't count it out until you are told to count it out. Your attorney should be able to tell you if you have a continuing claim or not.

I have discussed your responses with others on the Board and the President will discuss with our lawyer. We were never notified of a bankruptcy so the lot owner probably never even addressed the issues of dues/assessment. This is good news for the Association although I do feel badly for anyone who has to go through this. I feel like a vulture waiting for a handout under the circumstances.

No need to go to the tax office to see who owns the property. Just go online with your city and it's all there. "Hate to intrude on his financial problems". First you must decide what you want to do. No need to contact his attorney..You must make a decision..do you or do you not want to recoup any money that is owing.

Wow, what wonderful information. I did not know I could find out bankruptcies online. I found out about his taxes but this is great. I live in Wakulla County. Based on all your input we started with sending out the intent to lien letter 2 days ago, certified mail, return receipt requested. I still feel badly for him but this is my job. We have another lot in foreclosure and those letters went out the same day. I am being proactive and everyone unpaid at this time is getting the same letter. I should be a pro at this before it's all over. Thanks for all your help and if anyone thinks of anything else, just keep posting. It is always useful and appreciated.

If I wanted to research this info I would go to the Co. Recorder's website and search under "bankruptcy" for the individual's name. Or I might also search the individual's name under "all" which would bring up all recorded docs for his name. If the co doesn't have its records on line you should be able to go into the office and research the info.